Best Bird of the Weekend (Third of August 2009)

My best sighting was a Carolina Wren in my backyard, a species I’ve previously seen only in my neighbors’ yards. Corey was pleased with a male Scarlet Tanager still in breeding plumage anting or otherwise eating bugs next to nearby Chipping Sparrows. Charlie had a few days in Australia before jetting back to horribly humid (his words) Singapore. He’s been busy revitalizing our Conservation HQ page but left his hotel long enough to photograph the very showy (but not for long) Buff-banded Rail below at the Sydney Botanical Gardens, though some very close Sulphur-crested Cockatoos almost took the crown for his best bird of the weekend.

What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us about the rarest, loveliest, or most interesting bird you observed in the comments section. Plus, if you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, I invite you to include the link in your comment.

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he’s also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.

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I wanted to go to a local former sewage farm turned nature reserve to look for a Roller (very rare vagrant in Germany) as well as shorebirds and waders but it was so incredibly hot and humid over the entire weekend that I didn’t leave the apartment! Best birds were thus House Martins, Swallows and Eurasian Blackbirds.

Awakened at 3:15 this morning by a barking and trilling Western Screech-Owl out our bedroom window. No little gray face in the box this morning, but it’s about the time of year when one moves back in to roost for the winter.

Nine Bobwhites at Mecox Beach, Southampton! I was leaving the beach at 7:30pm after searching in vain for Whimbrels (and finding instead a nice diversity of shorebirds and waders), when I saw some movement on the other side of the dunes at the beach entrance, the side facing the road. A second later I saw a “chicken” head bobbing through the gap. I dropped my scope and scooted over the dunes, camera in hand, thinking the bird was making a dash for it. Not to worry, nine Bobwhites were gathering in front of the beach sign, just a couple of feet away from a stream of people and SUV’s moving towards the beach for late night partying.

A White Bellied Sea Eagle coming out of the sea with a HUGE fish (the species of which I couldn’t identify) dangling from its talons – a majestic sight. Spotted in Surathkal, Karnataka, India. I was unfortunate in that I didn’t have my camera with me.

Also spotted as part of the same walk along the beach – a Black-Crowned Night Heron – not too uncommon, but I don’t seen them too often so they’re always a treat.